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I have a Monoprice architect which is a barebones clone of the FlashForge Creator Pro, or Replicator 1 Dual. I have upgraded the power supply and added a heated bed and, after getting fed up with MakerBot software, I've started using Cura to slice then post process with GPX.

I did a lot of searching and finally found someone who posted their start and end G-code for this particular printer. The only catch is that his code only works on version 15.04.

Don't get me wrong, 15.04 is a huge upgrade compared to MakerWare. But, I would really like to start using a newer version like 2.5 or anything relatively new.

Here is the start code I found. I have tried it in 2.5 with error in post processing. Any help is appreciated!!

; -- START GCODE --
M136 ; start build
M73 P0
G90 ; absolute coordinates
;
; set temperatures and assert Vref
M140 S{print_bed_temperature}
M104 S{print_temperature} T0
G130 X118 Y118 A118 B118 ; set stepper motor Vref to defaults
; let the Z stepper vref stay at eeprom level (probably 40)
;
; home and recall eeprom home position
T0 ; home on the right nozzle
G28 X Y Z ; home all axes at homing speed
G92 X0 Y0 Z0 A0 B0 ; set all coords to 0 for now
G1 Z5 F500 ; move Z 5mm away so we can carefully hit the limit switch
G161 Z F100 ; home Z slowly
M132 X Y Z ; recall stored home offsets for XYZ axes
;
; wait for heat up
G1 X110 Y-72 Z30 F3300 ; move to waiting position
M116 ; wait for temps
;
; purge and wipe
G92 E0 ; set current extruder position as 0 so that E15 below makes sense
G1 X110 Y-70 Z0.2 F2400.0 ; move to just on the bed
G1 X110 Y70 E15 F1200.000 ; extrude a line of filament along the right edge of the bed
G92 E0 ; set E to 0 again because the slicer's next extrusion is relative to this 0
;
; Sliced at: {day} {date} {time}
; Basic settings: Layer height: {layer_height} Walls: {wall_thickness} Fill: {fill_density}
; Print time: {print_time}
; Filament used: {filament_amount}m {filament_weight}g
; Filament cost: {filament_cost}
; -- end of START GCODE --
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4 Answers 4

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Edit: After looking at GPX more I'm not sure what you are doing? Are you trying to slice something in Cura and use GPX to make the X3G file or use the starting g-code from Cura in Makerware? The code you posted above is used in Cura to generate the g-code and it appears you should be giving GPX the g-code file made by Cura.

You didn't specify which error you are getting or where but if I had to guess it's from the information in the curly braces. Everything in curly braces "{}" is a variable in the slicer used to generate the g-code.

All the information below is useless to the printer and I would start by removing it to see if you still get an error.

; Sliced at: {day} {date} {time}
; Basic settings: Layer height: {layer_height} Walls: {wall_thickness} Fill: {fill_density}
; Print time: {print_time}
; Filament used: {filament_amount}m {filament_weight}g
; Filament cost: {filament_cost}

If you still have an issue after removing that then you could remove {print_bed_temperature} and {print_temperature} and hardcode those values to something to see if the process completes.

If it's successful at that point then look at a different starting g-code and find those variable names and replace them.

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  • $\begingroup$ Let me clarify: I am using Cura to slice and then GPX to convert to X3G so I can print it. Here is the post where I got the code from. The code only works on Cura version 15.04. I would like to use a newer version of Cura like 2.5 $\endgroup$
    – Andrew Marzban
    Jun 21, 2017 at 17:21
  • $\begingroup$ @AndrewMarzban so at this point the issue is with Cura and nothing to do with GPX? $\endgroup$
    – tjb1
    Jun 21, 2017 at 19:57
  • $\begingroup$ That is correct. The issue is with the start G-Code. I have also tried printing on another makerbot clone (flashforge) and had success provided that I use Cura 15.04 with the above code. $\endgroup$
    – Andrew Marzban
    Jun 21, 2017 at 22:23
  • $\begingroup$ @AndrewMarzban follow my steps about removing the sections covered by "{}" and see what happens if you hard code them. $\endgroup$
    – tjb1
    Jun 21, 2017 at 23:35
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Look at the Cura error log file for why Cura doesn't like your startup code. The log file is located at $User/AppData/Local/cura/cura.log.

The problem may be that one the the parameters included in startup code (the names included in '{}') is no longer available in the newer Cura or the name has changed. Hopefully the error log will lead you to the specific issue.

If that doesn't help, try cutting out 1/2 the code and retrying until you can figure what line Cura doesn't like. Crude but effective.

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Thanks for everyone's help. So after playing around with the G-Code and trying to set the temperatures manually, I came across a post by a user who said that Cura will automatically include code for the temperatures regardless of your g-code. So I deleted the m140 and m104 lines and now it works great!

I am also going to take a second to rant about how difficult it is to find information on this g-code business. It seems that the language, which should be standardized, is different depending on the slicer that you use. What is the deal?

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  • $\begingroup$ There is a standard for G-Code - ISO 6983 but the only place G-Code is really used is in manufacturing on lathes, mills, etc, and commercial printers don't show G-Code to operators so it doesn't really matter. The lines you are talking about, M140 and M104, are "standard" for 3D printing, the extra stuff on that line is used to take information from the slicer and put it in the output. The firmware dictates which codes exist and what they do, not the slicer. $\endgroup$
    – tjb1
    Jul 5, 2017 at 11:14
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Why not download Flashprint by Flashforge and try using it with your printer?

Flashprint by Flashforge creates X3G files, therefore not requiring the conversion from GPX to X3G.

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